2011-12 UEFA CL: Chelsea are European Champions

[jim todd]

Wow. What a match. Barca dominated everything but the final scoreline. The toughest part is yet to come in the 2nd leg. Still, way to go Blues!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCnZqg1RgGA[/youtube]

[lukekarts]

Well that was a tense game, always is vs Barca.

I thoroughly expect us to lose in the Nou Camp; I'm probably even gonna put money us losing. Either way, I win.

[suckfish]

Roberto once again taking us to the promised land. This time for a bigger trophy.

[Man of Steel]

Any truth to the rumors that there was an altercation between Ribéry and Robben? I read it in Marca which isn't always the most reliable source but they said a fight almost broke out between the two in the tunnel after the game. The daily mail also ran the story, not sure how reliable they are either. Didn't believe it at first but then I remembered seeing a red mark near Robben's right eye in a post-game interview.

EDIT: here's a photo of him during a post-game interview.

https://p.twimg.com/Aq4GkY4CAAEJGSW.jpg

[MaliBrah]

Any truth to the rumors that there was an altercation between Ribéry and Robben? I read it in Marca which isn't always the most reliable source but they said a fight almost broke out between the two in the tunnel after the game. The daily mail also ran the story, not sure how reliable they are either. Didn't believe it at first but then I remembered seeing a red mark near Robben's right eye in a post-game interview.

EDIT: here's a photo of him during a post-game interview.

https://p.twimg.com/Aq4GkY4CAAEJGSW.jpg

yeah its true, this article says that the club didn't even deny it and "whatever happens in the locker room stays in the locker room"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... scrap.html

[Man of Steel]

Shame. I wasn't rooting for them to win against Madrid or anything but it's never nice to see problems like that for a team of Bayern's reputation.

[Point forward]

Any truth to the rumors that there was an altercation between Ribéry and Robben?

Bayern have officially confirmed that "both Robben and Ribery behaved inappropriately" and that "both were sanctioned". Comment: Ribery is a fiery guy, but at least busts his a** every game, whereas Robben demands a lot and often chokes.

[Kahn_2001]

Damn it, a fight over a damn free kick? I hope what happened was settled there and doesn't care over to the next match.

[5DOM]

Why no rock paper scissors this time?

[fatlever]

already getting nervous for the chelsea barca game tomorrow. last week i was completely OK with the idea of getting knocked out of CL by barca, as expected. sadly, the rollercoaster known as chelsea decided to give us another spin of hope. and here i am already with a knot in my stomach, thinking back to 2009 and the pain of watching iniesta bury that ball in the 92nd minute only to be followed by a worse feeling of seeing an awful ref miss a stone cold penalty.

more than anything, i just want a game where the ref is not an overwhelming factor.

chelsea fans, who is in your starting lineup? same as last game? i cant decide if i agree about benching mata for this one. i see the logic that it would be better to have a better defender or someone who is faster on the break in that role. that being said, anyone who watched the arsenal game on saturday could see we needed someone who could make the right pass on the break in the final 3rd.

would you slot torres in on the right to use his pace to hit those gaps on the counter? keep ramires on the left to deal with alves? or, maybe add bertrand at left mid and move ramires to the right?

does meireles really have another good game in him? or is he a walking red card?

i took the day off work for this crap tomorrow, same as i did in 2008 when we lost the finals, 2009 when we were knocked out by barca and 2010 when we were knocked out by inter and 2011 when we were knocked out by man u. i hope the result is better or else i will never take another day off work for CL ever again.

[treiz]

That game in 2009 was the worst game ever, I remember screwing for a good week especially how the ref missed like 5 clear penalties.

I'd go with the same team to be honest:

Cech

Cole
Cahill
Terry
Ivanovic

Mikel
Lampard
Essien (think we could use some steel in there, also helps he's got a rocket of a right foot)

Ramires (have him on the left to deal with Dani Alves
Drogba
Mata (wouldn't mind having Kalou in there, to keep the natural width rather than a left footer playing down the right, with Kalou pretty disciplined defensively and playing well since RDM took over as much as I don't like him, I think this could be a game suited for him rather than Mata).

[fatlever]

only thing that scares me about kalou is his awful decision making in the final 3rd as we saw at arsenal. he does defend well and had great pace though. i fear we may only get 3 or 4 real solid chances to score this game so we cant afford to waste those. then again, kalou does have that odd knack for playing like crap only to score a magical tap-in.

[lukekarts]

Is Drogba definitely gonna be healthy?

I say we should start with the same team as in treiz's post, but different subs - if Drogba gets tired, bring on Torres. Problem was in the last 30 minutes against Barca I had no faith we'd score even if we got a great counter-attack going. Ramires seemed to be our only threat and he was subbed late on. We can't rely on keeping a clean sheet in Barcelona.

[fatlever]

We can't rely on keeping a clean sheet in Barcelona.

i think we will have to score 1 to have any remote possibility to going forward. no chance we keep a clean sheet and 1-0 barca just sends it to extra time, where i dont like our chances.

1-1 or 2-1 barca is the best result we can hope for.

--------------------cech--------------------
ivan-----cahil------------terry-------cole
---------------mikel-------lamps-----------
torres/kalou-----raul---------ramires


--------------------drogba-------------------

subs:

1) essien in for raul around 60 min, move lamps up to raul's spot, essien to lamp's spot. tell raul to run his brains out when he is on the pitch and only needs to get to 60. and for god's sake, do not go to ground on challenges or its gonna be a red.
2) kalou in for torres, or torres in for kalou
3) if we need a goal with 15 to play, put in mata for mikel



play the long ball over the midfield to drogba with ramires and torres/kalou sprinting into the gaps.

[MaliBrah]

i just hope the refs dont screw around this game, they have a history for screwing around in barca favour

[5DOM]

Usually not a fan of experimenting with lineups in big matches, but I could understand if Mata's dropped for Essien or Torres. Torres probably thinks he can still make the national team, and what better chance than this to show that he can still be half-decent? His finishing is abysmal, but his pace and work rate might be of use.

I wonder if Luiz will make an appearance. If he's healthy, maybe we'll actually get to see him play in front of the center backs.

[fatlever]

--------------------------------cech-----------------------------------
----------------------------TEAM BUS--------------------------------
----------ivan--------cahill-----------terry---------cole----------
paulo--------------------------luiz------------------------bertrand
----------------ramires---------------------lampard------------------


-----------------------------drogba------------------------------------

there's my team its a bus-7-2-1 formation

[fatlever]

here is the team MVP

[lukekarts]

--------------------------------cech-----------------------------------
----------------------------TEAM BUS--------------------------------
----------ivan--------cahill-----------terry---------cole----------
paulo--------------------------luiz------------------------bertrand
----------------ramires---------------------lampard------------------


-----------------------------drogba------------------------------------

there's my team its a bus-7-2-1 formation

Nice!

I think I'd keep Paulo away from the team though; instead moving Ramires to RWB and putting either Essien or Mikel in midfield.

[Ill]

here is the team MVP

I lol'd. If only..